More than 100 Palestinians have been killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, according to Palestinians officials in Gaza.
“The occupation army directly bombed the displaced people while they were performing the dawn prayer, and this caused the number of martyrs to rise rapidly,” the Gaza Government Media Office said in a statement following the attack on Saturday morning.
“This clearly comes within the framework of the crime of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people.”
Gaza’s civil defence agency said three Israeli rockets hit the al-Tabin school, located in al-Daraj district, describing the incident as a “horrific massacre”, with some bodies catching fire.
According to local media reports citing eye witness accounts, around 250 people had been inside the prayer hall at the time of the raid.
Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat reported that rescue teams were unable to help those trapped by the flames as the Israeli military has cut water access to the area.
In its statement, the Israeli army said its air forces struck a “command and control centre” that “served as a hideout for Hamas terrorists and commanders” and was also a shelter for the residents of Gaza City.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad rejected the claim. “The enemy army’s excuses for destroying schools are the same ones it used to destroy hospitals before, and they have been proven false,” it said in a statement.
media’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Khan Younis, said many of the casualties arriving at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City were in critical condition.
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